Minnesota concert honors Holocaust music and memory

In a poignant concert held at a Minneapolis Lutheran church, the Minnesota-based Isles Ensemble paid tribute to the Holocaust by performing music originally arranged by prisoners in concentration camp orchestras. This event, part of an arts and culture series, coincided with heightened tensions in the Middle East, making its themes of remembrance and identity particularly resonant.

Violist Kenneth Fried emphasized the significance of the concert during these painful times, as the ensemble showcased a range of works that highlighted Jewish musical heritage. Among the pieces performed was the prayerful \"Kol Nidre,\" alongside a string quartet by Felix Mendelssohn that incorporated a classic Jewish folk song.

One of the more striking moments of the concert involved a medley of music described as \"utterly shocking in its banality.\" This charming café music was revealed to have been arranged by Auschwitz prisoners, performed for the entertainment of Nazi SS guards. The juxtaposition of this music with the grim reality of its origins served as a stark reminder of the complexities of human experience during the Holocaust.

To deepen the audience's understanding, the performance was interspersed with readings from the diaries of prisoners, including a haunting entry about the smoke from the crematorium affecting musicians' ability to see their notes. The original manuscripts of the music performed by the ensemble are preserved at the Auschwitz Museum, having been discovered in 2018 by Patricia Hall, a professor of music theory at the University of Michigan. Hall found 100 manuscripts of popular German songs from the 1930s and 1940s, arranged by prisoners for camp orchestras.

The concert not only honored the memory of those who suffered but also highlighted the precarious existence of musicians in the camps, where being selected to play music was often a preferable fate compared to grueling labor. However, the threat of violence loomed large, with accounts of musicians being executed by sadistic guards.

Under the direction of conductor Aureal Sands, the ensemble's performance aimed to faithfully recreate how the music would have sounded in the camp, leaving a lasting impression on the audience with its beauty and historical significance.